Stay strong, activists in Hambach! - Last stand against the coal

We are outraged to hear that the authorities in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) have ordered the eviction of a peaceful citizen’s occupation of Hambach Forest. We call for an immediate stop of the logging and extend our solidarity to all the activists who keep fighting for our common, fossil-free future!

The Hambach Forest is one of the oldest and most pristine forests left in Europe. Yet again and again, the 12.000 years old forest risks to fall victim to interests of energy corporations. For the past five years, environmental activists have occupied the forests, living in basic shelters and tree houses and protecting the forest against logging. Underneath the forest is a wealth of lignite — an extremely carbon-heavy and dirty low-grade coal which is considered to be one of the most polluting fossil fuels. The RWE energy company intends to clear some 100 hectares of land to expand the nearby Hambach mine, which is already Europe's biggest open pit coal mine.

“The government of NRW tries to justify the clearance of the forest with the tree houses being a fire hazard and not conforming to building regulations. But if the energy company RWE will get its hands on the dirty coal underneath Hambach forest, we all will have much more serious worries than the lack of emergency stairs in activists’ tree-houses,“ says Katri Ylinen, Co-Spokesperson of FYEG.

“If we are to limit the catastrophic effects of a rapidly changing climate, 80 % of world’s fossil fuels must stay in the ground. The coal under Hambach must stay in the ground. Not only are the energy corporations and their political figureheads destroying a unique natural habitat, they are destroying our future,” says Zuzana Pavelková, Co-Spokesperson of FYEG

FYEG fully supports and stands in solidarity with the protestors in Hambach. We call for an immediate stop of the disproportionate use of violence against the activists by the police. We call for an immediate stop of the logging. We encourage everyone who is in a position to join to come to the Hambach Forest and support the occupation on the spot, we encourage our Member Organizations to organize solidarity actions all over Europe, and - if you are a customer of RWE - we encourage you to quit RWE!

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